Java Caching Software Stores More Than a Terabyte

Terracotta has released a new version of its Ehcache distributed Java caching software with some noteworthy enhancements, including the ability to store more than a Terabyte of data in a single cache using only two lines of configuration code. This increased capability is available out of the box and requires no application code changes, the company said.

Ehcache 2.2 is the fifth upgrade of the widely deployed open-source Java caching solution since Terracotta acquired it last year. Ehcache (pronounced "ee-ache-cash") is one of the world's most popular open source Java cache libraries. Enterprise production deployments of Ehcache are estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. It ships as a component in Hibernate ORM, the Spring Framework, Alfresco CMS, and the Liferay portal.

The latest release also comes with new support for Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS), which provides LDAP authentication support for "tight integration to corporate user management systems;" better multi-data center support, including customizable cache replication between clusters in disparate geographic areas; and a new Common Runtime Library that the company claims reduces memory usage and network connections, while providing new common developer constructs. The new CRL also exposes an API "that programmers can use alongside the Ehcache API to perform complex inter-process coordination tasks across multiple machines with just a few lines of code," the company said

San Francisco-based Terracotta is the founding company of the open source Terracotta project. Terracotta clusters Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) to create a shared memory pool at the Java application tier, which can be used to share data among servers. This shared memory pool can also be employed to coordinate the work of many JVMs. The company's Java infrastructure solution is a commercial offering based on the open-source project.

The company's products provide a means of scaling enterprise Java applications to as many computers as needed without custom coding. Customers offload work from databases and applications to the Terracotta infrastructure, essentially mimicking Amazon EC2 inside private data centers.